The US women’s national team missed out on the SheBelieves Cup title for the first time since 2019 after a 2-1 loss to Japan in the final of the three-game round-robin tournament in San Diego on Wednesday night. Japan, who claimed the title for the first time, struck early with a second-minute goal by Yuka Momiki, then regained the advantage through Toko Koga in the 50th minute.
The win is the first time the SheBelieves Cup has been won by a nation outside the US or Europe, and just the third time in the tournament’s 10 editions that it has been won by any team other than the United States. It also marks Emma Hayes’ first loss in charge of the national team since taking over in May of 2024, and the team’s first loss of any type in almost exactly a year.
Here are three takeaways from the match.
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An opening flurry
Japan had proven to be the class side of the tournament after opening with a 4-0 win over Australia, followed by a dominant 4-1 result over Colombia. Those results and the goal difference meant that Nadeshiko Japan needed only a draw in the final match to capture the title.
Nonetheless, as they had done all tournament, Japan came out on the front foot from the opening whistle, aggressively working passing angles to get the US backline looking disorganized after just a minute or so. That pressure paid off with an opener that was as well-worked as it was indicative of the difference in speed of thought between the sides for most of the match. Manchester City midfielder Yui Hasegawa was able to create the chance when given a halo of space while receiving the ball on a throw-in deep in US defensive third. With no defender stepping to her, Hasegawa was able to pick up her head, identify the run of Yuka Momiki, and play a ball that caught goalkeeper Jane Campbell and the covering defender Emily Sonnett off-guard. Momiki took a deft touch away from the duo as they ran into each other, and finished smartly after just 90 seconds.
Hayes spoke early and often about this part of her tenure being all about testing the team’s depth and putting young players in tough situations, to see how they will respond. Just 12 minutes after the opener, those young players responded with an equalizer. It will be encouraging to everyone in the USWNT camp that Catarina Macario, who recently returned to the team after a long bout of injury troubles, provided the assist in a transition moment. It’s also encouraging for the team’s enviable forward depth that 21-year-old Ally Sentnor was the one to finish it, giving the Utah Royals striker her second international goal in her opening trio of USWNT games.
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The end of a US run
The winning goal came off a set piece, with Koga’s smart follow-up run allowing her to finish past a helpless Jane Campbell after she had made an outstanding diving save off a Hasegawa free-kick. But make no mistake, this game was largely won on the ground. For large portions Japan held a 100-pass attempt advantage over the US, with a possession percentage that hovered around 60% for most of the game until the US pushed for a late equalizer. That meant most of the US’s best moments came in transition. Even in those moments, though, the Japanese defense did well to track US runners and limit dangerous opportunities. In the closing moments, Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita capped the defensive effort with a terrific save on a long-range effort from Tierna Davidson in the game’s closing moments.
It’s worth noting, however, that not only was this an excellent Japan side in great form, but also that this was a US squad lacking many of the core group that won Olympic gold in 2024. Rose Lavelle, Mallory Swanson, Sophia Wilson (née Smith), Trinity Rodman, and Naomi Girma were all absent; all names that ring out in this squad, with many serving as leaders in their respective positions.
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So while the loss may dent the program’s pride slightly, there’s a good chance that the squad as a whole will be better for it in the long run. A whole new group of players have now gained international tournament experience and know what it’s like trying to solve an elite opponent under pressure. For Hayes, that may be all that ultimately matters.
Youth in the spotlight
As expected given the US squad, Hayes named a lineup heavy on youth and low on international experience, with the notable exceptions of captain Lindsey Heaps and defenders Crystal Dunn, Sonnett and Emily Fox. Even with those decorated veterans on the field, though, the average number of caps in the starting XI (50.9) was the lowest such mark for any USWNT team facing Japan since July 1993, when the American lineup boasted an average of just under 19 caps per player, according to Opta.
That mark is even more notable in context: A USWNT player with 19 caps for that game in 1993 would have played in about 24% of the team’s all-time games at that point. On Wednesday, a 51-cap player would have appeared in just 6.7% all-time games.
It’s a gap in experience that makes for an entirely different look for a USWNT that has traditionally been built on what one might call “extreme veterans”. Recent retirees like Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and Heather O’Reilly can each claim to have played in around 30% of the team’s all-time games. They are among 17 all-time USWNT players to have played in over a quarter of the team’s games.
(An eye-popping side note: USWNT record cap holder Kristine Lilly still, at time of writing in 2025, has played in over 46% of the team’s games. At the time of her retirement in 2010, that figure was 77.4%).
